At least 12 people were killed today when a depot at the main naval base on
Cyprus, containing confiscated arms from the Middle East, exploded sending
shock waves across surrounding villages.

Initial reports indicated a brush fire crept into the arms depot on the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base, on the southern coast of the island near the town of Zygi.

It set light to gunpowder stored there since being confiscated in February 2009 from a Cypriot flagged ship, the Monchegorsk, that was suspected of transporting it from Iran to Gaza.

The explosion killed two sailors, four soldiers from the National Guard and five firemen, and it was thought the death toll would rise.

A nearby power station at Vassilikou, the largest on the island was struck by the blast, knocking out local power supplies. Among its customers is a BBC relay station, six of whose transmitters, broadcasting English-language services to the Middle East, were disrupted.The ministry said the explosion occurred at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on the Mediterranean island's southern coast at around 6am (0300GMT).

State radio said the dead included two Cyprus navy sailors, two soldiers and five firefighters.

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Footage broadcast on state television CyBC showed numerous damaged cars stopped along a stretch of highway near the base. One person who was in a car passing the base at the time of the explosion told CyBC that it felt like "a bomb had been dropped on the car."

CyBC said the explosion also caused numerous injuries and extensive damage to homes in villages near the naval base.

A ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was not complete said it appeared to have been caused by a brush fire that broke out nearby and spread to the base.

The fire ignited gunpowder stored in containers that Cypriot authorities confiscated in February 2009 from a ship sailing off its coast.

The ship, the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk, had been suspected of carrying the gunpowder from Iran to Gaza.

State radio quoted National Guard Chief Petros Tsalikides who is at the naval base as saying that the explosion caused a "great catastrophe."

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that a fire at a nearby Vasiliko power station has been contained.

Cyprus Electricity Authority official Yiannis Tsouloftas said the power station - the island's primary electricity generator - sustained extensive damage as a result of the explosion's concussion wave and will remain offline for at least Monday.

Tsouloftas said the island's two other smaller power stations will try to cover electricity demand, but authorities are appealing to the public to reduce consumption as much as possible.

Fire from the blast spread to Vassilikos, an electricity facility which provides Cyprus with half of its power.

“The doors crashed together, the glass blew in - windows, door frames, things left their shelves. It was a total mess inside, as though a bomb had hit the place,” a witness, Hermes Solomon, told the BBC.

Windows were blown out at tourist restaurants and bars in the nearby fishing village.

Britain has about 3,500 military personnel based in Cyprus, most at the Akrotiri air base about 25 miles away from Zygi and Dhekelia army base further to the east. There were no initial reports of British casualties.Ambulances were seen rushing to the scene, while hospitals all over the island issued emergency appeals for blood.

The military base stored munitions from the Monchegorsk, which Cyprus intercepted sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 after pressure from the US, confiscating its cargo for being in violation of UN sanctions on Iran.

The intensity of the blast caused extensive damage to property nearby and to a popular tourist resort 3km away, where windows and doors of beachside restaurants were blown out.